Guilds

(Guilds were a major part of the world, part of a network that helped defend the region from the demons to the north. Without a guild you had very limited access to feats and prestige classes. Each one had a separate writeup.)

Joining a guild or organization provides an adventuring
mercenary with many benefits. These
benefits can range from access to training in feats to monetary bonuses when it
comes to equipment. In addition, most
prestige classes are rooted within various organizational structures. It is possible to not be affiliated with a
guild, and guilds can always be joined later, but choices for advancement and
growth will be limited. Below is a brief
write-up of each guild that may be joined at 1st level; full
write-ups complete with prestige classes and feats available will be provided
separately.

The
Astrologer’s Guild

Originally
formed so that arcane spellcasters could hide their profession under a cloak of
legitimacy. The unofficial wizard’s
guild of Sûthgeard, members still try to hide their art from prying eyes even
though most are privy to their charade now.

The
Bards

The
Bards are similar to the Coven and the Speakers in that they aren’t an official
guild. Rather they are a loose
organization of skalds and storytellers who share their knowledge and talents
to each other’s benefit. Anyone who
tells a good tale can join, but Skalds make up the majority of the membership.

The
Coven

More
of a sisterhood than a guild, the Coven is what the witches of Stânfolde call
themselves. It is not an official guild
but fills all of the same duties, even interacting with the Hiring Hall. Non-witches can be considered Coven members,
even males, as long as they are dedicated to the sisterhood’s goals and ideals.

The
Chapterhouse

A
mercenary guild formed by holy warriors allied to the Church. Clerics and paladins make of the majority of
its membership, but anyone able to wield a weapon can join if their faith is
strong enough.

“The
Guild”

The
thieves’ guild of Sûthgeard. They keep a
tight leash on non-guild members operating in the city as the other powerful
guilds could crush them easily if provoked.
The main reason they still exist is due to their front organization,
“The Adventurer’s Guild”, which trains adventuring mercenaries in skills useful
outside the city.

The
Hospitalers

A
religious mercenary guild somewhat similar to the Chapterhouse, save the
Hospitalers specialize in healing.
Besides training mercenaries, they run hospitals throughout the
land. They are mostly comprised of
clerics and paladins, but the occasional shaman, witch or non-spellcasting
healer has made it into their ranks.

The
Lancers

The
spearman is the most basic fighting unit in all of Stânfolde. Any spearman who wishes to be more than a man
with a long pointy stick trains with the Lancers. The Lancers are more of a training
organization than a guild, but they do maintain some guild functions. Very few adventurers come from the ranks of
the Lancers.

The
Outriders

There
is no heavy cavalry in Stânfolde, but there is a light cavalry. They specialize in both scouting and fast
moving hit and run tactics. Founded by
the hin on their riding dogs, it has grown to include horseback riders,
too. While not a large generator of
adventurers, there are some groups that find the skilled riding of a Outrider
to be an essential part of a mercenary company.

The
Speakers

Not
formally a guild, the Speakers represent those who choose to honor the spirits
as part of their devotion to Heaven.
They have their own hiearchy and function as a guild in most
respects. While Shamans make up the
majority of members, anyone who respects their ways can join.

The
Spellswords

Since
arcane magic carries a stigma in Stânfolde, many practitioners of the art have
taken up weapons to make themselves more socially acceptable. The combination of martial and magical skills
has made the Spellswords one of the most powerful and respected mercenary
guilds. Most wizards who wish to do more
than study musty books join this guild, as does anyone with some interest in
arcane magic.

The
Whistling Death

Originally
formed by various orders of secret archer brotherhoods, the Whistling Death has
become an indispensable part of life in Stânfolde. They provide training and mercenary bands to
town militias and also produce talented archers who are key members of most
adventuring mercenary companies. Perhaps
the largest mercenary organization in the land.

Classes

Due
to the nature of the campaign, there are changes to the core classes that are
available. Some classes from the PHB
have been changed or replaced, others have been eliminated completely. Finally, there are some new core classes
available that are more appropriate for this campaign. The core classes that will be used are listed
below along with comments about any changes and the role the class plays in the
world. (All classes have at lease Simple
Weapon Proficiency).

Astrologer: Arcane spellcasters have
hidden their skills within the cloak of astrology for ages. Many now can combine their knowledge of the
stars with computing actual magical effects.
Astrologers aren’t as adventure oriented as wizards, but their skills
can be impressive if properly prepared.
(Uses Astrologer class from Occult Lore).

Avatar: Avatars are the mortal
agents of the Heavenly Host, summoning down the wrath of Heaven on the
unholy. They cast divine spells like
clerics, but specialize in the summoning of celestials and can even take on
angelic forms at higher levels. No one
chooses to be an avatar, they are chosen by Heaven. While they don’t have any specific place
among the clergy, avatars tend to be respected no matter where they go as they
bring the wrath of Heaven with them.
Many are allowed to be members of the Chapterhouse even if they don’t
meet the martial requirements. (Uses the
Avatar class from Green Ronin's Avatar Handbook).

Cleric: The fighting priests of the
Church, clerics are very common in the Stânfolde region. While the less combative Ecclesiastic class
is available, many members of the clergy are still clerics due to the great
need for martial prowess in this region.
A change to the class is that the ability to turn undead is replaced
with the ability to turn outsiders of an opposite good/evil alignment as there
are no undead in this world.

Ecclesiastic: Not all the clergy is as
talented at fighting as clerics are.
Those that tend to stay at home or in the city often become
ecclesiastics, divine spellcasters that focus almost solely on their
spellcasting abilities. Note that
ecclesiastic may not be multi-classed with cleric. (From Netbook of Classes).

Fighter: Still the most common class,
the fighter gains Intimidation and one other skill of the player’s choice as a
class skill.

Martial
Artist:Masters
of exotic fighting styles. There is a
tradition in Stânfolde called Angel’s Fist where specially trained fighters and
martial artists travel and challenge one another in a continuing quest to
perfect their fighting style. These
fighting styles are taught by individual masters who often keep a retinue of
students. (From Beyond Monks)

Rogue: The rogue is unchanged in
rules and attitude from the Player’s Handbook.

Ranger: A consummate outdoorsman,
the ranger has more in common with the rogue than the druid. The ranger is fighting class, though he tends
to focus more on stealth and skill than outright confrontation. (Modified 3.5e ranger, on separate printout).

Paladin: The paladin is unchanged from the Player’s
Handbook. They play a very important
role in this world full demons and devils.

Shaman: In game terms, the shaman is
a divine spellcaster but in reality he doesn’t cast the spells as much as coax
his spirit allies to cast spells for him.
While more at home with nature than other classes, the shaman doesn’t
worship it as she understands the spirits are awakened through the breath of
God. A change to the class is that
angels may be taken as spirit companions along with normal spirits. (Uses the shaman from Mongoose's Shamans).

Skald: The skald serves an
important part of this martial society.
Through the skalds, a living record of the deeds of the past are kept to
inspire to heroes of the present. Skalds
themselves are warrior poets, using the inspiration of the heroes from the past
to make them effective combatants.
(Original class, on printout).

Witch: Unlike other arcane
spellcasters, witches don’t experiment and play around with their Enochian
spells. Rather, they all cast from the
same book, the Book of Shadows, which is said to have been given to them
by Uriel in ages past. While this claim
is not disputed by the church, there is still some distrust from the peasantry
as their magics are still arcane in nature.
The class itself focuses on subtle spontaneous spellcasting combined
with ritual and natural knowledge. (Uses
the witch from the Green Ronin's Witch’s Handbook).

Wizard: Perhaps the most mistrusted
of all the classes, wizards all cast their spells from the same magical
language – Enochian, the angelic language of creation. While what they do is not technically evil,
it is considered the ultimate act of hubris by the church and there is a good
deal of mistrust. Most wizards learn to
sling a sword along with spells to help their appearance. The class itself has a slightly different
spell list (due to the lack of necromancy) but is otherwise unchanged.

Races

(I've only extracted the fluff part of the character creation document to save space. The original includes the racial bonuses if different from the PHB.)

There are several different races available in the Stânfolde region. While most of them can be found in the Player’s Handbook, there are significant enough differences that each race will receive a full write up below. This will include both descriptions of the race and their statistics.

One overall difference between the races of Stânfolde and those presented in the Player’s Handbook is that there is less friction and difference between the races. To give something of an idea of the difference, consider that a dwarf visiting an elf village will be less like an American visiting China and more like an American visiting Europe. There are common institutions shared between all the races so a human could go to a dwarf, elf or halfling settlement and expect to find common currency, language, religion and organizations. While the races do each have their own culture, they can all feel somewhat comfortable with each other.

Aasimar While they don’t have a society of their own, the plane touched are very prevalent in these lands. Aasimars are those who can walk about in daylight as they are revered and respected for their celestial heritage. Much like their celestial ancestors, aasimar tend to be kind, honorable, and proud. They normally live among humans, often becoming heroes and leaders of their communities as they continuously strive to bring justice and prosperity to their mortal kin. Statistically, they are templates and not a race unto themselves. The following modifications are applied to an already existing racial template.

Dwarf Among the races dwarves are best known for their hardiness, be it in battle, in their resistance of magic, or in their stubbornness of character. They share a love of justice and stone, carving their lands out of the caves beneath mountains and producing masterworks of weapons, armor, and jewels unmatched throughout the land. The heart of dwarfdom lies in the Thunder Mountains, and the farther one gets from there the more human-like the dwarves become, especially those from the Thûsend Hills.

The dwarves of the Thunder Mountains are a dour and serious sort. While they retain their love of craft and drink, martial and religious matters are considered even more important. The great loss their kin suffered first in the Black Mountains and then they suffered in the battle of Thunder Pass still weighs heavy on them. They are certainly capable of enjoying life – the greatest tavern songs are all dwarven – but when matters get serious they are famous for putting on their “killing face” and not stopping until the job is done.

There are two main dwarf-only territories in the Stânfolde region. The largest and most important are the Thunder Mountains where settlements sit both above and below the earth. The largest of these mountains, Mount Thunor, is their attempt to create as massive a dwarven city as existed in the Black Mountains and by far the larges of their towns. Conversely, the Thûsend Hills near Sûthgeard houses a smaller community dwarves that are mostly refugee clans from the Black Mountains. Along with the many dwarves who have taken up living in human lands they have become very human-like in their attitudes.

Elf The elves of the Luna Silva, or the Moon Elves, are often considered to be the “elder sons” of the races. This is more due to their longevity as it is not known which of the races, if any at all, was created first. Creatures of the forest, elves are renown for their woodcraft and skill with the bow. Everything they do seems to be touched with grace and beauty.

Moon elves see the glory of God in all his creation and choose to see life as a celebration of Heaven despite the pain in the world. Elven church services tend to be joyous events full of singing and even some spontaneous dancing – it is often joked that it is hard to tell a morning service from an evening revelry. It isn’t that they are never serious – a look at all the elven names in the Valley of the Dead will show what they are willing to risk and sacrifice when needed – it is more a matter of trying to find the light when trapped in the dark.

The Luna Silva home to many small elven villages that usually have public buildings and merchants on the ground and homes in the trees. While there is no equivalent to the dwarven Mount Thunor, the total elven population of the Luna Silva is about equal to the number of dwarves in the Thunder mountains. However, there are a larger number of elves mixed in with human settlements as they are often sought to teach archery to militias or called to duty in the clergy.

Hin Sometimes called “halflings” by humans, the hin of the Stânfolde region are immigrants from the hin tribes of the Southern Waste who became more “civilized”. While considered somewhat uncultured and barbaric by the other races (who do not kill a boar and use its bones to make a knife as a coming of age ceremony) the fierceness they showed in battle during the war and the food they provide and has made them welcome members of society. Riding specially bred greyhounds and herding pigs on the plains, the hin have become a very common sight over the last few hundred years.

Hin are a very practical sort, in many ways more so than the dwarves. They have a firm belief in working hard and then playing hard – the work you do during the day, be it herding pigs or killing demons, ends with the day and at night you enjoy they fact that you aren’t working. Perhaps the greatest symbol of their mindset comes from their coming of age ritual. The young hin kills a boar and then must carve it in such a way that every part has a use – his first kukri is made from its tusks and his first mug is made from its tanned hide. Nothing is wasted, whether the use be for work or for fun.

The lands of the hin ranges from the Goodwine to the Brembur rivers – they roam the plains, herding their pigs from place to place. Recently they have been settling down more and penning the pigs in, but these settlements tend to either not last long or exist exclusively for the purpose with trading with others. Over the years, the hin have also learned not to graze on the land of farmers so there are currently few conflicts of that nature, but there is concern that as herds and farms grow that there may be trouble down the road.

Human The humans of the Stânfolde region are often considered the “glue” that hold all the other races together. Their language is the common language, their towns are the center of cross-cultural exchange. While not endowed with some of the extraordinary abilities of the other races, humans remain a vibrant and active member in the goings on throughout the land.

Teifling The tieflings are the offspring of humans and some lower planar denizen. This ancestry causes tieflings to often be shunned by respectable society, driving them to associate with those on the wrong side of the law. Often tieflings grow up with no family or close relations, and few tieflings feel the need to look after other members of their kind. Despite these obstacles, tieflings often have a strong personal drive to rise to positions of power, wealth, and respect. Statistically, they are templates and not a race unto themselves. The following modifications are applied to an already existing racial template.

Here's an old campaign I successfully ran with a friend acting as co-DM. It was actually completed with the characters reaching 17th level and successfully sending Lucifer back to Hell. It was created out a desire to run a Diablo style game along with a lot of elements we wanted to add to the still somewhat new 3rd edition of D&D.

Below is the introduction to the setting. It actually ended up being somewhat incorrect and incomplete as we changes things about the setting while campaign progressed. Later I'll add the character creation document which is pretty much the only other collected source for information about the setting.

The map uses the central region from my favorite map and is specifically the original one mentioned in that post.

Ancient History

In the time before, all the world
was a paradise surrounded by dreams and Heaven.
Man and beast lived in harmony and they all feared and worshiped the
Creator and his magnificent Silver City.
However all was not well in the City as one of the seven chosen of the
Creator, Lucifer, led a rebellion against his Lord and his brothers. The reasons for this rebellion is unknown,
perhaps not even Lucifer knows any more.
However the archangel and his followers were cast down from the Silver
City in Heaven and they fell towards earth.

Lucifer and his followers pierced
the world, going through it, and emerged on the other side. Where he passed he left corruption. The mortal realm there was blasted, the low spiritual realm turned dark and the realm of dreams turned to nightmare. Mortals now found themselves surrounded by both dreams and nightmares, light and dark spirits.

Still the Fallen went downwards
until he found himself in a place the opposite of heaven. It was barren and empty save for he and his
followers. Unrepentant and full and rage
at his Master, Lucifer swore vengeance – swore to one day to return to the
Silver City as lord and master. What
began then is what is known as the Eternal Conflict – Lucifer’s continual
attempt to make his realm of Hell more powerful than that of Heaven. This ongoing war is fought in dreams, in the
spirit world and in the realms of man.
Sometimes it tips in the direction of one or the other, but never has
one side ever some close to claiming victory.
For those on Earth, many have chosen sides in the Eternal Conflict and
some have even made a difference. For
most, though, they simply live their daily lives unaware that a battle rages
about them and hope to end their time on earth in peace…

Recent History

Over
one hundred years ago the Kingdom of Stânfolde was an important nation. Sitting neutrally between two mighty empires
who were continually at odds with each other it was made incredibly rich with
trade. Nestled comfortably between the
Goodwine and Sylfren rivers, it was also blessed with rich farmland and natural
resources. Its leaders were wise and the
people pious. At least for a while.

The
major trading city of Caldhâm was the capitol of the kingdom and trade center
between the two empires along the connecting river. About five hundred years ago King Anandarân
declared that he had made a deal that ensured that the kingdom would be
prosperous forever more. He stopped
attending church services and rumors began that he was leading some dark
ceremonies himself. Civic leaders began
to join him – those who refused disappeared.
The countenance of the people of Caldhâm darkened. Churches began to close or mysteriously burn
down.

In
the southern city of Sûthgeard, the leaders of the church and government grew greatly
concerned. The darkness that seemed to
have overtaken Caldhâm seemed to be growing.
The dwarves of the Thunder Mountains reported that nothing had been
heard of their kin in the Black Mountains for months and the elves of Iggath
had likewise disappeared. The south
began to mobilize for war.

And
war did come. Small skirmishes between
cultists and strange beasts and demons began to occur throughout the
south. As the civil war formalized and
battle lines settled, it was determined that few of the original inhabitants of
the north still lived. The army that the
south now faced seemed to be comprised wholly of monsters and demons and it was
massive. They completely ignored the Old
Road and headed across land towards Thunder Pass, only sending a token force to
Brembur Ford.

The
leader of the southern armies, a dwarf named Tharam from the Thunder Mountains,
proposed a bold plan. The army of the
dwarves, reinforced by the bows of the elves, would hold Thunder pass alone. The bulk of the army would quickly defeat the
foes at Brembur Ford and then come from behind to smash the enemy. This was executed just as planned – the
dwarves and elves held the pass for three days at a staggering loss of life,
but when the main army arrived from behind the demon hordes had no chance. Those that weren’t slaughtered fled to the
Darkwood and the south was saved from the immediate threat.

Modern Times

Today,
there is no more Kingdom of Stânfolde.
The land was so shattered by the war that only the city of Sûthgeard
remains along with various other small towns and villages. All “civilized” life resides south of the
Brembur River save for New Edor which is little more than a remote
fortress. North of the river are
monsters, demons and worse. Continual
military force is needed everywhere to counter the constant demonic appearances
that seem to arise. Only through the
effort of tireless individuals is the land kept from falling into eternal
chaos…